I had a brief conversation this week with Sally a woman who, with good reason, is very unhappy with her job. In addition to clearly being underpaid and too often treated unfairly by her employer, she isn’t in a place that allows her to utilize her creativity or pursue her long-time dream of interior decorating.

Knowing my husband and I had recently moved across the country to pursue our careers, Sally said rather wistfully that we were very brave. She then went on to say that while she knew she had to make a move, she also knew she…
More Posted on 05-24-08

Truth be told, I have been known to irritate those in charge, albeit not intentionally.

This week, as we worked to expand the team that will put legs under a huge provincial initiative, I did it again.

I realized afterward that it was largely the result of my assuming that everyone understood the nuances as well as the values brought by individuals who are best described as social innovators.

And yet, when it became clear that others didn’t necessarily understand their value, I floundered somewhat, finding it difficult to describe their characteristics and why they are so…
More Posted on 05-17-08

We’ve been diligently searching and testing recipes for the secret sauce that will strengthen community leadership, collaboration, and innovation.

Trial and error, research, a brilliant CEO, a dynamite team, trailblazing partner communities and the learnings of the past year were combined in a proposal asking for significant project funding.

You can just imagine the excitement when we learned that corporate and government funding was approved clearing the way for a $6.5 million community development initiative designed to enhance quality of life in rural communities across the province

Bubbling with excitement we fully expected the national organization with…
More Posted on 05-11-08

It wasn’t the most exciting of topics for a meeting but when you’re using public tax dollars and corporate donations there is a responsibility to measure progress….even when progress is something as intangible as quality of life and community leadership.

So one day last week as our small group was meeting in a stuffy, windowless room to further explore the scintillating world of evaluation and its application to our provincial initiative, others in the building were startled and somewhat surprised to hear boisterous enthusiastic voices and a lot of raucous laughter.

As another staff member walked by the doorway,…
More Posted on 05-04-08